INTERVIEW WITH ARVIEM

In 2018 at TRANSLOG Connect Arviem - the expert of real-time cargo tracking and monitoring services - won the 6th CEE Logistics and Supply Chain Excellence Award in the solution provider category!

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Arviem solves the challenges of obtaining visible and intelligent trade by offering real-time end-to-end cargo tracking and monitoring services on a pay-as-you-use basis. As the only full-service provider for real-time cargo monitoring on the market, Arviem provides exceptionally accurate location and condition monitoring of cargo throughout the global supply chain. They uncover supply chain blind spots by installing automated locating and sensing technology on multimodal containers and cargo. The company provide real-time, carrier independent data about the whole journey of the goods from the point of manufacture to the point of delivery.

Arviem’s IoT enabled supply chain visibility service helps clients to optimise their physical and financial supply chains by monitoring the flow of goods in-transit in real-time. The vast amount of data and management reports generated by the company enable enterprises to optimise their supply chains, improve their working capital management, reduce transport insurance premiums, administrative costs, as well as to ensure product safety, and product quality during transit. While its IoT based services help clients to digitalise parts of their supply chain without the need for investing into new technologies, hardware or staﬀ, the scalable, pay-per-use service oﬀers a possibility of a quick ROI by reducing costs and enhancing eﬃciency. Arviem’s service works alongside legacy systems, the data can be accessed through a cloud-based platform, or it can be integrated with clients’ systems via an API.

To learn more about the award-winning project we interviewed Stefan Reidy, founder and CEO of the Swiss Arviem AG:

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What was the innovation within your project which made you win the award?

How did this contribute to your client’s success?

Stefan Reidy "Arviem uses innovative Internet of Things technology and Big Data Analytics to uncover blind spots in the logistics and supply chain. Real-time cargo tracking and monitoring connects intermodal shipping containers, cargo, vessels and trailers with enterprise IT systems via the use of sensors, GPS, mobile networks and a cloud-based platform. The sensors capture and transmit signals and data to provide a closer picture of the condition, geographical location and environment of goods in transit. This empowered supply chain leaders at Oriflame to take corrective actions and make fast and smart decisions when it comes to the unplanned, distracting events and delays in the supply chain. With Arviem supply chain management becomes proactive instead of being reactive. Additionally, with the help of the intelligent reports, strategic decision makers at Oriflame can use the data from Arviem’s cargo monitoring platform to improve planning accuracy and detect bottlenecks by eliminating logistics blind spots.

While the main incentive of Oriflame for starting the project with Arviem was to address the security challenges the company has been experiencing during transit on certain trade routes, Oriflame realized that the data provided by Arviem’s cargo monitoring service is beneficial to optimize supply chain and logistics planning, the speed of customs clearance processes, inventory management and costs as well as administrative costs."

In your opinion, how is the project supporting the developments of logistics in the CEE region?

Stefan Reidy"We bring visibility to trade. This increases the supply chain security, planning, efficiency and productivity while also driving down logistics costs. Besides helping clients to identify inefficiencies in their supply chain, we also help them to assess their logistics service providers as selected trade routes. Our service can be implemented without investing in assets; we work on a pay per use basis which decreases the financial burden for organisations. Moreover, Arviem’s service works alongside legacy systems, the data can be accessed through a cloud-based platform, or it can be integrated with clients’ systems via an API. Thanks to this clients can modernise their systems and operations without significant IT or Operational changes.

Additionally, China is no longer as attractive as before, and lots of companies are outsourcing their production to countries in CEE. Still, outsourcing production to other countries could have an impact on higher logistics cost, higher inventory cost, higher risk and with that higher insurance premiums. With the Arviem services, such “negative” impacts of outsourcing can get under control and therefore make CEE even more attractive."

From your perspective, which are the biggest challenges in the logistics field the CEE region is facing?

How are you supporting your clients to overcome them?

Stefan Reidy "CEE region is rapidly turning into the main hub of industrial demand as the region is a popular location both for production and e-commerce businesses. The business operations of multinationals in the CEE region positions the region as an essential part of the broader global supply chain. During the times of rapid growth and development, increase for export production is growing as well as the influx of raw materials and secondary products to CEE. Overseeing the flow of goods and information is challenging. Additionally, despite the dynamic development of recent years, the road and rail network, as well as the port infrastructure is still not perfectly built out. All this makes the lives of logistics and supply chain professionals more difficult. Not knowing where their cargo is and in what condition only worsens planning challenges, unforeseen late delivery of goods negatively affects inventory levels and working capital, as well as customer satisfaction (whether it is an internal or external customer), poses as a threat to production planning and continuity.

Arviem gives back the control to logistics and supply chain professionals. By implementing Arviem’s technology on intermodal shipments, Arveim’s clients always know where and in which condition is their cargo in transit. This improves planning accuracy and supply chain efficiency.

By being able to optimise logistics processes, logistics costs can be reduced. Imagine the situation, the poor farmer that produces pineapples in Costa Rica only receives 10 % of what the same pineapple is sold for in Saint Lucia - and logistics costs of all kind absorb 60 %. If logistics costs could be lowered, the farmer could get a larger share, the consumer would benefit by lower prices, the logistics industry by higher wages, and undoubtedly production of pineapples would increase due to the expansion of the market.

This same example could also be applied to CEE - not for pineapples but other products."

How do you think the recognition is helping you to raise your brand awareness further?

Stefan Reidy "We hope winning this award will make the Arviem brand more visible in various industry publications and will familiarise industry professionals not only from the CEE region with our innovative service offering. As we are currently working on growing our presence in the CEE region, the award comes right on time to introduce us to the companies on the market."

Are you planning to apply for the award again in the future?

Stefan Reidy "Yes, definitely as long as we will have clients in the region who are willing to participate with us showcasing their excellence and innovative and forward-thinking spirit. Participating in awards organised by the industry and judged by esteemed professionals creates opportunities for us not only to raise awareness of Arviem’s brand, but also serves as valuable feedback for us and serves as external validation."

Are you planning to attend TRANSLOG again next year?

Stefan Reidy "This is our second year at TRANSLOG, and we are very happy with the organisation of the event. The meeting tool is one of the best on the market, and the attendees of the event are generally interested in hearing about innovation in the field and of logistics and supply chain which opens generates lots of opportunities for interesting discussions. Not to mention, we started to build our relationship with Oriflame last year at the event, and today our hard work on our joint project was recognised by the jury of CEE Logistics and Supply Chain Excellence Award. The event provides high value to us, so definitely we will be here next year again!"

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Stefan Reidy is a leader, a supply chain enthusiast and a visionary aiming to build a ‘seamless digital trade network’. He is the founder and the CEO of the Swiss Arviem AG, helping manufacturers, exporters and importers to reveal inefficiencies in their supply chains by enabling transparent global trade via supply chain visibility solutions and real-time cargo monitoring services. Stefan has over 20 years of experience with innovative technologies and business models in the supply chain which he gathered both by working for corporations and in the startup environment.

Before founding Arviem, Stefan was responsible for IBM’s Secure Trade Lane Solution, developing innovative solutions with the goal to improve security in International trade.

If you think your solution is cutting-edge and should be recognized by the industry, apply for the 7th CEE Logistics & Supply Chain Management Excellence Award and put your business in the spotlight by presenting your solution at the upcoming TRANSLOG Connect Congress!